In fact, many Republicans strenuously objected last year when the Obama administration proposed sharing limited intelligence about Syria with Russia.

One of the Republicans was Mike Pompeo, the former congressman from Kansas who now runs the C.I.A. In an appearance last year on a podcast hosted by Frank Gaffney, a former Reagan administration official now best known for his anti-Muslim views, Mr. Pompeo said sharing intelligence with the Russians was a “dumb idea.”

For those who want to keep score: which Republicans keep to a consistent message, and which ones will start the "yabbuts"?

I got the feeling that Trump was considering an argument line that he, on behalf of the American people, would try hard to get his eyes on all the classified secrets of the CIA & FBI, even if they want to hide it from the people ( or those looking out for them, such as Trump himself ).

Is that the talking points on Fox News at present?

LarmarkNewAge writes:

It looked like he was teasing the fired FBI director with the dreaded Trump Tapes

Oh, I though it was a threat. Silly me.

LarmarkNewAge writes:

Trump wire-taps the FBI and threatened to give it nightmares in its sleep with the bad dream of Trump arguing over classified material being kept from the people's representatives.

Trump may have taped a oval office conversation with Comey the previous FBI director but I doubt seriously he had the FBI bugged.

LarmarkNewAge writes:

The intelligence agencies clearly are crapping out their pie holes in constant fear of Trump. )

The intelligence agencies are most likely shoring up any residual damage that may have been caused. And as far as fear of Trump I think your right. A ignoramus with that much power is to be feared.

"You were not there for the beginning. You will not be there for the end. Your knowledge of what is going on can only be superficial and relative" William S. Burroughs

The information that Trump shared was not his to give. Israel gave us that information with the promise that we wouldn't tell other people. That's a much different situation than sharing information that we haven't promised to keep secret.

The information that Trump shared was not his to give. Israel gave us that information with the promise that we wouldn't tell other people. That's a much different situation than sharing information that we haven't promised to keep secret.

And to follow-up on Taq's point: can Marc reference the articles from the Obama administration where he fired the head of the FBI that was leading an investigation against him?

And to follow-up on Taq's point: can Marc reference the articles from the Obama administration where he fired the head of the FBI that was leading an investigation against him?

Could you imagine what would have happened if Obama fired the lead investigator for the Benghazi incident, went on TV and flat out said that he fired the investigator because he wanted the Benghazi investigation to wrap up, and then asked the FBI director to lay off the Hillary email investigation?

How many minutes would it take Republicans to vote for impeachment if those events took place?

Russia isn't allied to any Sunni Muslim nations or entity so far as I know.

It is doubtful that Trump put any agents in danger unless you want to make a tangled web argument.

The only possible danger is that Russia might feel we are supporting Sunni Muslim extremists as opposed to simply collecting info about them from moles. Perhaps they might see these agents as pro terrorist enemies.

Russia is consistently anti extremist and it does rightly see us as highly inconsistent (to put it mildly ).

Anyway, the CIA and FBI are going to be looking for all kinds of 'impeachable ' offenses to be offended at during the Trump administration.

Trump normally would relish a fight with his hated enemies, but he surely knows the treacherous ground is risky here, due to the additional complications which include the numerical necessity of holding the Washington Republicans in his support camp. Nixon was toast once he lost the conservative Democrats in congress, and the vote numbers we thus pro impeachment

Trump might have the advantage of having a Democratic opposition as stinky as poop, but the intelligence agency politics involve forces far more powerful than a poopy opposition party.

Challenging dynamics for Trump.

And the risk he takes far more than political. The intelligence agencies clearly have the ability to make his political disagreements into crimes that can land you in prison.

He must know this.

For that reason, he might be really recording all of his conversations with the agencies that he legally is allowed to record.

It is doubtful that Trump put any agents in danger unless you want to make a tangled web argument.

Russia absolutely detests the US influence in the region so they would be all to happy to have those agent/s dead and then blame it on the loose lips of Trump. Anything that diminishes US projected power is a win for the Russians.

Afterall, why did Russia erect anti-aircraft batteries in Syria? The rebels fighting in the Syrian civil war don't have any airplanes. The only airplanes fighting in that war are Russian and Syrian planes. The answer is really simple. Those missiles are there as a deterrent to US aircraft.

The actions were not the same. Obama didn't share that information with Syria, because of the outcry against it and the discussion of the proposal. As is standard in such cases, he consulted with knowledgeable and smart people before doing anything.